Seeing Through to the Heart
by Kalira423
Summary: COMPLETEDThe time is drawing near for Sakura and Ryo to be married. But a strange man also wants to marry Sakura for his own reasons. And he will stop at nothing to make sure he gets what he wants.
1. chapter one

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Ronin Warriors, but I do own all the original characters. 

Author's note: This is the Third story in the Sakura/Ryo series. Please read the first two stories Destiny's Warrior and The Art of Getting Revenge first or things might get a little confusing. And please remember to read and review. I appreciate any feedback that you guys can give me. 

Chapter one-

Sakura stared absentmindedly out the second story window. She was sitting on the window sill stroking Kero. Kero had his head on her lap, purring contently as White Blaze sat at her feet. She turned and looked around at the room she shared with Mia and Alanna. No one was home at the moment and she was waiting for Ryo to get home. She heard a rock hit the window as she turned to see Ryo waving at her from the ground. 

"White Blaze." She said still watching Ryo. "He's back." White Blaze perked his head up and ran out the room to greet his master. Sakura saw White Blaze run out the house and tackle Ryo, covering his face with his tongue. Sakura laughed as Ryo finally managed to get the huge white tiger off of him. A few seconds later Ryo appeared in her doorway. 

"You told him to do that didn't you?" he accused as he walked over to her.

Sakura tried to act innocent. "I did not." She said. 

"Yeah, right." Ryo said. "Hey, scoot over Kero." Ryo said as he nudged the orange tiger in the side. Kero growled at the intrusion and reluctantly moved over to allow Ryo to sit on the sill next to Sakura. 

"What have you been up to since I left this morning?" he asked her.

"Not much, just sitting here for a while and cleaning up around the house." She answered nonchalantly. 

"Did you miss me?" he asked her leaning in close. 

"Absolutely." She answered as he got closer. 

"I missed you too." he said softly as he gently kissed her lips. 

"Sage! That was not funny!" came the distant yell of an indignant Alanna, followed by the slamming of a door. Sakura broke the kiss and smiled at the exasperated look on Ryo's face. 

"It never fails." He sighed as he leaned his head on her shoulder. Sakura laughed. "Come on, I would think you would be used to this by now." She joked as she stood up. Ryo took her place on the window sill. 

"Yeah, but on our wedding night, there will be NO interruptions." He said implied slyly. Sakura blushed at his comment and looked away. "So, you going to help me up or what?" he asked as he held out his hands.

"I guess I could." She sighed as she grabbed his hands and pulled him into a standing position. Ryo put his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Sakura looked up into his blue eyes. 

"Come on, we better go see what Sage did to make Alanna mad this time." She said as she headed toward the door, a reluctant Ryo trailing behind her. Unknown to the two warriors a man, hidden by the foliage of the trees, was watching them through their window. He took out a phone and dialed a number and put the phone to his ear.

"Yes," the voice on the other line asked.

"I have collected the information you requested on Talpa's daughter." The man said. 

"Good," the deep voice acknowledged. "Head back here immediately to relay your information."

"Yes sir." The man said as he hung up the phone, climbed down the tree, and disappeared from sight.


	2. chapter two

Sakura made her way downstairs to see what the fuss was about. She entered the living room to find a very indignant Alanna, hands on her hips, glaring at a laughing Sage. 

"You should have seen your face." Sage said in between laughs. "It was priceless." He said as fell back against the couch laughing." Alanna glared at him.

"You jerk!" she sputtered. "I can't believe you did that!" 

"Did what?" Ryo asked as he entered the room behind Sakura. Alanna looked up to watch them come in as Sage tried to calm down. 

"We were coming back from the city and we were in the middle of the woods. I turned around for a second and when I looked back Sage was gone. I looked for like fifteen minutes and I couldn't find him and I started to think something happened to him when he sneaks up behind me and scared me half to death." She told them.

Sakura had to choke back a laugh. Yeah, that was Sage all right. Ever since Alanna had come to live with them, Sage had had the biggest crush on her, and she was the only one who didn't know about it. "Yeah," Sage said. "It was great. She tore off through the forest screaming like this." He laughed as he did a high pitched scream and ran around the room. Alanna watched his antics angrily. 

"I do not scream like that!" she yelled. 

"Yes, you do. Everyone knows. They all heard you when you screamed." Sage said falling into another round of laughter.

"Shut up Sage Date!" Alanna said. "Wait till I get my hands on you, then we'll see who is screaming for help." She threatened as she advanced on him. Sage quickly got up and ran out the room, tailed by Alanna. Sakura and Ryo looked at each other and laughed. They stopped laughing long enough to hear Alanna. 

"Got you!" she shouted followed closely by a shriek from Sage. Ryo and Sakura broke into laughter again as they sat down on the couch. 

"Should we go help him?" Ryo asked her.

"Naw, I think he's actually enjoying it." Sakura answered. She knew that even though Alanna was acting mad she really wasn't. She returned Sage's feelings; she was just to shy to say anything about it. 

"Alanna sure has changed since we first met her." Ryo's voice broke into her thoughts. Sakura nodded. Alanna had been very shy and timid when she first came to live with them. But that had changed soon. The other Ronin Warriors treated her like one of them as did the Warlords. She quickly became best friends with Sakura and Mia and the three often stayed up late at night talking about different things. Mostly the guys. Alanna spent quite a lot of time with Sage and even though they argued a lot, it was still obvious to everyone but themselves that they were crazy about each other. 

"Hey, what are your plans for tomorrow?" Ryo asked suddenly. 

"I don't think I have any, why?" she asked. 

Ryo shook his head. "No reason." He answered mysteriously. "Just keep it that way." He said as he got up off the couch. 

"Hey, wait a minute!" Sakura called after him as she followed him outside. "What are you planning?" she asked as she jogged to catch up to him.

"What makes you think I'm planning anything?" he asked.

"I know you." Sakura said. "Come on, tell me." She begged.

"You'll find out tomorrow." He answered as he wandered into the backyard. Sakura stood there for a few minutes with her hands on her hips. 

'What is he up to?' she wondered as she turned and headed back inside the house. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The mysterious man who had been watching Ryo and Sakura ran through the forest until he came upon a dragon. This dragon had a saddle on its back and appeared to be waiting on him. The dragon looked at him as he approached.

"What took you so long to get here?" the dragon questioned in a deep voice. 

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure I did my job right!" the man commented as he situated himself in the saddle. "Besides, I wasn't expecting you to be here, Bronx."

The dragon spread its leathery wings and took off into the air. "I wasn't planning on it, but Master requested that I come pick you up. He's very anxious to hear what you have to say on that girl." 

"Well, I have good news and bad news to tell him. So we better hurry and get here. Oh, and as a suggestion, you might want to make yourself scarce when I tell him the bad news. You know what happens when he hears bad news." The man shuddered.

Bronx nodded his understanding as he flew high above the trees toward their destination.  


	3. chapter three

Sakura woke up the next morning and went downstairs. She was greeted by Ryo who was sitting on the couch waiting for her. 

"'Bout time you woke up." He commented as she wandered into the living room. "I thought you were going to sleep the entire day."

"Sorry, I was up late last night." She said sinking into the couch next to him. 

"Doing what?" he asked curiously. 

"Oh this and that, in case you have forgotten, I have our wedding to plan. Remember?" she said leaning her head on his shoulder.

Ryo smiled. "No, I defiantly haven't forgotten." He said.

"So where is everyone else?" Sakura asked. It was uncommon for the house to be this quiet, what with twelve people all living under one roof. 

"It's a surprise." Ryo said mysteriously. 

"You going to tell me what it is?" She asked him.

Ryo looked at his watch. "Yeah, I guess now is a good time." He said as he stood up. "Let's go." He said holding out his hand.

Sakura took his outstretched hand as he led her outside and toward the direction of the forest. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"Don't worry, you'll like it." Ryo promised as he led her further into the woods.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Bronx and his rider were flying over a grassy plain when the rider suddenly spoke. 

"There is the castle." The rider said pointing to a floating castle in the distance. The castle was huge and floated mysteriously above the ground. Most of the time the castle was hidden by clouds, but on this clear day it was in plain sight. 

"I know where the castle is." Bronx said irritated. He hated being a chauffer for his master's little errand boys, but what could he say. Bronx slowed his speed and landed lightly on the outer courtyard. The rider jumped lightly to the ground and turned to face the dragon. 

"Thanks for the lift." The man said as he turned and hurriedly walked inside. The man walked fast through a long stone corridor adorned with tapestries. On these tapestries were pictures that had been woven in. If a person took the time to look at them, they told a story of some kind. Not very many people took the time to look at the story, because the owner of the castle kept them on such a tight schedule. The man stopped at two huge wooden doors and knocked loudly. The doors opened and he entered in to see his master sitting on a throne at the far end of the room. The man rushed forward and bowed at his feet.

"Arise Hudson." The man on the throne said. Hudson rose to his feet. "Tell me what news do you have for me?"

Hudson reached inside his pocket and took out a small camera. He used the camera to produce a holographic image of Sakura. "This is Talpa's daughter." Hudson said. The imposing figure on the throne smiled. "Not bad," he commented. "Not at all." 

"She does own the Shadow lands and has no idea of what is under her father's castle or what resides in the Shadow lands." Hudson continued. 

"Excellent." The man said sitting back in his throne. 

"That is the good news." Hudson said in a close to quivering voice.

The man straightened up and glared at Hudson. "There is bad news?" he thundered.

"Yes, my lord, Seriyu. You see, this man," Hudson clicked a button on the camera and the image of Sakura was replaced with a picture of Ryo and Sakura together. 

"She is engaged my lord. To this man, Ryo Sanada." Hudson said dreading Seriyu's reaction.

Seriyu's face contorted with rage and anger at this little endangerment to his plans. Convincing Sakura to marry him would be hard enough as it was. Seriyu was pretty sure she remembered him from when they were little children and she hadn't liked him at all. The only reason she tolerated him as she did was because her father demanded it. Now without her father's stern face to promise him an audience with her, he didn't know how long she would let him speak to her. But now that she was engaged, well that just threw the entire plan out the window. Seriyu scowled and fingered the jewel hanging around his neck. Suddenly, an idea filled his head. Seriyu smiled evilly and threw back his head and laughed maniacally. 

"Sir, are you alright?" Hudson asked nervously. Seriyu only continued to laugh. 

"Yes, Hudson, in fact, I think that I am better than ever." Seriyu finally answered as he stood up from his throne and swept out of the room. 


	4. chapter four

"Okay Ryo, when am I going to find out where we are going?" Sakura complained as she was led through the forest. 

"We're almost there." Ryo said as he suddenly came to a stop. "See, we're here now."

"Where exactly is here?" Sakura asked looking around.

Ryo stepped aside, stood to her side, took her hand, and led her though the trees to reveal all of their friends sitting in a clearing.

"Surprise. Happy Anniversary." The group shouted.

Sakura stared at them all with surprise. "But we aren't married yet." She reminded them.

"I know," Ryo said squeezing her hand. "But it's the anniversary of the day we first met and that's good enough for me." He said.

Sakura looked at him with surprise and happiness. "You remembered the day we first met?" she asked incredulous.

"How could I forget?" he whispered.

"Okay, enough mushy stuff. Let's eat." Kento shouted as everyone laughed. Sakura and Ryo found a place to sit on the checkered blanket lying on the ground. 

"Where is the food?" Kento piped up noting that the main dishes were missing.

"Kero and White Blaze wanted to carry them in." Ryo said as the two tigers made their appearances. Kero was carrying a basket of bread in his mouth, while balancing a bowl of macaroni and cheese. White Blaze was carrying the desert, peach cobbler. As the tigers paraded towards the group, Kero stumbled on a rock. Loosing his footing the tiger slipped causing the bowl of Mac and cheese to fly sailing through the air. Everyone gaped as the bowl flew up in the air, made and arch, and fell, overturned, on Ryo's head; covering the ronin in mac and cheese. Everyone was quiet and gaping as Ryo took the bowl off of his head. Everyone except for Sakura who had her hands over her mouth to stifle her laughs, which came out as a snort. 

"Did you just snort?" Ryo asked as he placed the bowl on the ground.

Sakura shook her head no giving out another snort of laughter at the food covering her fiancé. 

"I suppose that you think this is funny?" Ryo asked as she shook her head no again and continued to laugh.

"No? Well then…"Ryo said as he took a plastic knife and cut off a piece of butter. "Maybe you'll get a little chuckle out of this." Ryo said as he bent back the blade in preparation to launch the square of butter at her.

"You wouldn't dare!" Sakura challenged as her facial expression turned from confidence to surprise as Ryo threw the butter at her. Her mouth open in surprise as Ryo attempted to beg for forgiveness. 

"Food fight!" Sakura shouted grabbing handfuls of food and throwing them at Ryo. Everyone else, eager to get in on the action, began hurtling gobs of food at who ever let their guard down. Sage grabbed the peas while Rowen and Dais grabbed the mashed potatoes. Cale and Sekhmet tossed out chunks of peach cobbler, as Alanna and Mia tore off chunks of bread.  Food was flying everywhere. Ryo grabbed Sakura's hand and the two escaped from the ensuing war. The two ran down toward the river holding their sides. 

"Look at me, I'm covered in cobbler!" Sakura said as she tried to wipe off the bits of food on her shirt.

"You look good in peach." Ryo joked. Sakura looked up and him and gave him a playful slap on the arm. 

"I can't believe you hit me with the butter!" she exclaimed. 

"I didn't start it." Ryo protested. "Talk to that clumsy tiger of yours."

"Oh yeah, were did Kero go?" Sakura asked looking around. She looked at Ryo again. "You have food all in your hair." She said grabbing handfuls of macaroni out of it. "I'll tell you what, since it was my cat that got you so messy, you can be the first in the shower." 

Ryo stared at her then at the river. "You know what? I think I have a better idea." He said as he took off whooping like a little kid toward the river. Sakura watched as he ran and jumped into the river slowly walking behind him. She stopped at the bank and watched him splash around in the water. 

"Hey, didn't someone ever teach you not to swim right after you eat?" She asked him. 

"Oh yeah, I got a cramp! I can't swim!" Ryo said as he submerged himself under water. Sakura watched him lazily as she leaned against a tree. Ryo resurfaced sputtering. "Hey, no fair! I'd save you!" he protested.

"No way," Sakura said. "It's too cold." As Ryo dunked himself again. Sakura waited for him to come back up.

"Come on, I don't want to save you right now." She protested when he didn't resurface. "All right." She said relenting. "But only because I think your worth it." She yelled as she jumped into the river. "Ryo?" she called out as she searched the water for him. "Ryo? Ryo this isn't funny!" she said starting to get slightly worried.

"Hey," a voice behind her called. Sakura spun around in the water to see Ryo calmly leaning against a tree. "A guy could drown waiting for you." He said with a smirk.

"Wildfire! I'm going to kill you!" she threatened as he jumped back into the water. Sakura gave a shriek as a wave of water hit her. Ryo resurfaced in time for Sakura to dunk him back under. The two wrestled and splashed about in the river. Sakura had just resurfaced when she saw Ryo's face. 

"Don't move." He commanded.

"What? What is it?" Sakura asked. 

"There is this thing in you hair." He said as he reached out for it.

"What thing? Like a bug?" Sakura asked getting nervous.

"No, well, maybe I don't…" Ryo said as he slowly reached for the offending thing.

"Well, get it out." Sakura said as Ryo grabbed it and held out for her to see.

"It's the dreaded leaf bug. It's highly poisonous." Ryo joked showing her the leaf that had been stuck in her hair. 

"Real mature." She muttered good naturedly as she swiped at his hand. Ryo let go of the leaf and caught her hand causing Sakura to look up at him. The two treaded water staring at each other for a moment as they slowly leaned toward the other. Ryo brushed his lips across Sakura's when he heard, rather than saw, the others at the river bank observing them. Ryo broke slightly away. "We're being watched." He said softly. Sakura smiled.

"Let 'em look." She said as she kissed him again drawing whoops from the guys on the bank. Ryo and Sakura laughed as they swam towards the riverbank, unaware that they were being observed by Hudson and Seriyu.

Author's note-Okay Okay I got the scene from the It Takes Two movie. But it was such a cute scene and I figured… Why not? So anyway, I hope you are all enjoying the fic so far and please remember to R&R!! I love getting feedback on my stories. 


	5. chapter five

Hudson and Seriyu watched Ryo and Sakura as they rejoined their friends on the riverbank. If there were going to get their plan to work, they had to get Ryo away from the others. Seriyu touched Hudson on the shoulder and gave him the indication that they were leaving. Hudson silently followed Seriyu until they were a decent ways away. 

"How do you suggest we get him away from everyone?" Hudson inquired. 

"We just have to create problem and nab him then." Seriyu said as they trekked back to Seriyu's castle. 

"But what if more than just Ryo comes?" Hudson asked.

"Then we'll send a group and have them run off in different directions." Seriyu replied. Hudson nodded his head in agreement as they made it to the clearing where Bronx and another dragon were waiting. Seriyu climbed atop Bronx while Hudson did the same on the other dragon. The two dragons and their riders rose into the air and headed for the floating castle that was Seriyu's home. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura. Mia and Alanna walked into their room and collapsed on their beds laughing. 

"I don't think I'll ever forget the way Ryo looked with all that macaroni in his hair." Sakura said.

"Yeah, and Sage looked so cute with the mashed potatoes covering his chin." Alanna said in between fits of laughter. 

"We need to have another food fight!" Mia said as the three girls continued to laugh. 

"What's so funny?" Sage asked entering the room, wiping potatoes off his face. The girls looked at each other and burst into another round of laughter. Sage looked at them, shrugged and left the room. It was a few hours later until everyone had calmed down since the food fight. They group had just sat down in the living room to watch some TV when Talon came soaring in through the window. He landed screeching on Sakura's shoulder. Sakura listened to what he had to say then announced it to the rest of the group. 

"There is an armed robbery in the city." Sakura said as she stood up. "Talon said it would take about three of us to take care of it."

Ryo and Cale stood up next to her. "We'll go with you." They volunteered together. Sakura nodded her agreement as they transformed into their sub armor and ran out the door. Summoning Draco Sakura, Ryo and Sage waited for him to appear. It wasn't long until the dragon came soaring toward them and landed with a thud on the ground. Draco was now a full grown dragon and strong enough to carry three people. The three warriors climbed atop his back as they flew off toward the city. Draco landed atop a building once in the city. Sakura, Ryo and Cale jumped off and made their way down to the street. They followed the noise of the sirens to see a group of thieves coming out of a bank bags full of money. The thieves took off running down the street with the Ryo, Sakura, and Cale on their heels. Noticing they were being followed the group split into three smaller groups. 

"Cale, you go that way, Sakura and I will go this way." Ryo instructed. Cale nodded and took off in the western direction. Suddenly an old man appeared beside Ryo.

"Oh please, you must stop that man that took my gem." He pleaded. "It is all I have." He said pointing to the eastern direction. 

"Sakura, you follow the ones that went north, I'll go after this other guy." Ryo said. "Be careful." Sakura cautioned as she ran after the thieves that had gone north. The old man watched as Ryo ran after the solitary thief as he smiled evilly to himself.  Ryo ran after the lone thief quickly catching up to him. He ran after the man gaining ground when the man suddenly disappeared from view. Ryo halted in his tracks looking around. 'Where did that man go?' he thought to himself. He slowly walked deeper into the forest ears straining to hear the slightest noise. The man who had jumped into a tree was waiting until the Ronin was right under him then he leapt out of the tree sword raised to hit Ryo. Ryo had heard the snap of a branch and thanks to his training with Sakura was prepared. The two clashed swords fiercely. Ryo soon gained the upper hand and was just about to win the sword fight when he was hit behind the head. He turned around to see a smirking band of men each holding a club before falling to the ground unconscious. 


	6. chapter six

"So this is the man that Talpa's daughter is engaged to?"

 Ryo groggily opened his eyes to hear a cold voice ask. He tried to move but found that his right arm was chained to the wall. The man who had voiced the question turned to face him when he heard the sound of rattling chains. 

"You're awake." He said speaking the obvious. Ryo gazed up at the man who was holding him captive. "I'm glad. I didn't want to wait for you to finally come around." The man said.

Ryo was fully conscious now and tried to stand up. "Where am I? Who are you?" Ryo demanded. The man looked at him and smiled. 

"I am Lord Seriyu." He said smiling as he bowed sardonically. "And you are Ryo of the Wildfire, correct?" 

"So what if I am." Ryo said. Seriyu smiled. "I see, you have guts, I'll have to remember that." He said with a laugh. With that he turned to his followers. "I'll be back later today to perform the… 'procedure' he's still to weak right now, but he should be fine by tonight." Having said that Seriyu swept out of the room, tailed by the remaining men in the room. Ryo looked around at the modestly furnished room he was in. 'What is going on here?' he thought as he set about to think of a way to escape. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Sakura walked back to the city after following the thieves for almost an hour. She had eventually lost them, but recovered the stolen money. She had just returned the money to the banker when Cale came up behind her. 

"Did you catch them?" he asked.

Sakura shook her head no. "No, they back tracked on me and I lost sight of them, but I recovered the money." She added brightly.

"Yeah me too." Cale said. 

"You want to know something weird?" Sakura asked Cale. "It seemed to me like they weren't interested in the money at all. They just dropped it and kept on running."

"They guys I was following did that too." Cale said energetically.

"I don't think that this was a real robbery at all." Sakura said. "It might have been a distraction to get us out of the way."

"From where? Or who?" Cale asked as realization to what Sakura was thinking dawned on him. "The house. Somebody must want to capture someone at the house." 

"But who?" Sakura asked thinking hard. 

"Alanna maybe? Or Mia or any of the other. Whoever it is, we need to get back to the house and make sure everyone is okay." Cale said starting off in that direction. 

"Wait!" Sakura called halting Cale in his tracks. He turned to look her.

"What?" he asked. 

"What about Ryo? He hasn't come back yet." Sakura said. 

Cale shrugged. "He's a big boy, Sakura. He can take care of himself."

"I know, but when he comes back and we aren't here he's not going to know where we went." She informed him.

"I think he's smart enough to figure out that we went back the house, but if it bugs you that much we can leave a note or something with the banker and the police chief." Cale said. Sakura nodded in agreement as the talked to the banker then headed off toward the house to see if anything was amiss. 


	7. chapter seven

Sakura and Cale made it back to the house in record time. They burst through front door much to the surprise of Alanna, Sage, Rowen, Yulie, and Dais in the living room. Sakura and Cale stood in the doorway panting from lack of breath. 

"Is everyone here ok?" Cale managed to get out.

"Yes." Rowen said slowly. "Why, are we not supposed to be?" 

Cale shook his head as he and Sakura walked in the room and took a seat on the couch and proceeded to explain to the five listening about the robbery and the thieves' lack of interest in the money. 

"Nothing's happened out of the ordinary here." Dais said after hearing the story. 

"Well, that's good to know." Cale said. 

"But it doesn't make sense. Why would someone go through all the trouble of getting some of us out of the house and not try anything?" Sakura asked thoughtfully.

"To throw us off maybe?" Rowen suggested. 

Sakura shook her head. "No, I don't think that's it. I feel like I'm missing something, but what is it?" She thought. She suddenly straightened up in her seat.

"Ryo!" she shouted. 

"Huh?" everyone chorused. 

"There weren't after anyone here, they were after Ryo!" Sakura said rising to her feet. 

"What makes you think that?" Alanna asked.

"Think about it, nothing happened here and yet the trouble was made to create some kind of a disturbance. Me, Cale and Ryo were the only ones to leave the house. Nothing happened to me or Cale and Ryo hasn't come back yet. I have to go find him." She said preparing to run out the door. 

"Wait." Sage called. Sakura stopped and looked at him. "We'll help you." He said rising to his feet.  The others followed suit. 

"One of you needs to stay here and tell the others what we think has happened. It's possible that I'm wrong and that we'll run into Ryo along the way." Sakura cautioned. 

"I doubt that, I agree with you. I think something has happened to him." Rowen agreed. 

"I'll stay here." Yulie volunteered.

"And I'll stay with him." Alanna voiced. The others nodded and raced out the door, Sakura leading the way. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ryo struggled valiantly against the single shackle chaining him to the wall. He pulled, tugged, and yanked as hard as he could at the chain without making any progress. Ryo wearily leaned his back against the wall and slumped to the floor. 'It's no use.' He thought leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes. 

'I bet Sakura is wondering where I am.' He thought to himself. He jerked his head up at the sound of an opening door and looked up to see Seriyu approaching him. Ryo glared at him as three other men followed behind him. 

"It's time." Seriyu said in a sing song voice.

"Time? For what?" Ryo questioned standing to his feet. 

"You'll find out soon enough." Seriyu said grinning. 

"You won't get away with what ever you are planning." Ryo spat. "I bet Sakura and the others are already getting suspicious." 

Seriyu grinned. "That won't be a problem for long." He said as he reached out and placed a black amulet around Ryo's neck. Ryo looked down at the amulet puzzled. 

"What's this for?" he demanded to know. Seriyu ignored his question as he pulled a similar amulet out from a chest and placed it around his own neck. He closed his eyes and stood still for a while. Ryo observed him. 'He looks like he's concentrating on something,.. but what?' 

Seriyu closed his eyes listening. With the magic that the amulet held he could hear Ryo's heartbeat, along with his own. He had to wait until they were on the same beat, when the two hearts were beating as one Seriyu opened his eyes. "Conversion!" he shouted at he and Ryo were enveloped in a flash of white.


	8. chapter eight

Ryo blinked trying to get everything back into focus after the flash. He looked up expecting to see Seriyu standing over him when he gasped in shock. He saw himself still chained to the wall. He looked at his hands as the Ryo chained to the wall began to laugh. 

"Guards, seize him!" The other Ryo commanded. Ryo was suddenly grabbed on both sides as the other Ryo was being unshackled. 

"What did you do to me!?" Ryo demanded his voice not sounding like his own. 

"We traded bodies!" The Ryo disguised Seriyu replied. He held out the amulet to show Ryo. "These wonderful little amulets have the magic ability to switch the souls of whoever is wearing them. So I switched with you. Your soul is now in my body and my soul is in your body and no one is the wiser." Seriyu said as he laughed evilly. He walked to Ryo and removed the black amulet from around his neck. Ryo managed to get a glimpse of himself in the mirror and was shocked to see that Seriyu was right. No longer did he have black hair and blue eyes, he now had brown hair and green eyes. Ryo gaped at his reflection.

"Why did you do this?" he asked in a daze.

"Because you stood in the way of what I wanted, and now that is no longer a problem." Seriyu said admiring his new look in the mirror. 

"What is it that you want?" Ryo asked afraid of the answer. Seriyu turned to stare at Ryo with blue eyes, _his blue eyes as he leaned close to his face. _

"Why, Sakura, of course." He whispered. Ryo attempted to lunge at Seriyu in rage, but was held back by the men flanked at his sides. Seriyu back away and laughed again. 

"Don't you dare touch her!" Ryo yelled threateningly. 

"I won't be touching her, you will." Seriyu said amused. Ryo's now green eyes narrowed dangerously.

"She won't have you." Ryo spat. 

"I know, that is why I had to change bodies." Seriyu explained. "You see me and Sakura go way back, I knew her father. Then due to some unfortunate circumstances, I didn't get to see Sakura again. Until now, I intended to woo her and ask her to be my wife, only to find that she was engaged to another. You. But now that that little obstacle is gone, I will be able to marry her and get what I want." Seriyu chuckled merrily at the look on what was once his face. 

"Oh, and if you were counting on being able to get to her and tell her, you might as well forget it." Seriyu added as an afterthought. "This castle is floating at least 100 feet up in the air, the only way to get down, is by riding a dragon. Who, of course, only obey my orders." Seriyu started to strut proudly around the room. He took the amulet that was formerly around Ryo's neck and placed it on his neck. The amulet hung down, making a clinking noise as it hit the other. 

"And even if you did manage to find some way off this castle, Sakura wouldn't even give you the time of day."

"Why is that?" Ryo asked.

"Because, when I knew Sakura, she hated me. No, she loathed me. The only reason I was able to be with her when I was, was because her father ordered her to. If she saw me now, no telling what she would do." Seriyu said with another evil laugh. "Lock him back up and meet me back in the throne room when you are done."

Ryo was reshackled to the wall as the remaining men walked out to meet Seriyu in the throne room. Ryo strained even harder against the chains that bound him. 

'I have to get to Sakura!' he thought passionately as he struggled until he was weak from exhaustion.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hudson and the rest of Seriyu's followers met the new appearance of their master in the throne room. He was sitting on the throne waiting for them/ 

"Listen well, all of you. I'm only going to say this once. I'm going to leave you all now to go greet my _fiancé_." Seriyu said with a grin. His followers gave each other nods and winks. 

"You already have your orders. If you need to contact me, call my phone, but only if it's an emergency. If I have any orders for you I will send them with Bronx. Is everything clear?" He asked. Everyone nodded their heads as they followed the impersonating Ryo to the dragon house. Bronx was waiting outside. Seriyu climbed atop Bronx. 

"I'm off, let's go Bronx." 

"Yes my master." Bronx replied as he took off into the air and flew to where Seriyu would meet the unsuspecting Sakura.


	9. chapter nine

Hundreds of things that could have happened to Ryo flashed through Sakura's head as she ran toward the bank that had been robbed earlier that morning. 

"I never should have let him go after the one guy alone." She criticized herself. 

"It's not your fault." Rowen consoled running beside her. "You had no idea that someone was planning anything." 

Sakura looked at him out of the corner of her eye and smiled. 

"I just hope that we find him." She said as they made it to the bank. The stopped and gathered around Sakura. 

"Ok, Cale went in that direction, and I went that way and Ryo went that way." Sakura said pointing to the different directions each had taken. 

"So it looks like our best bet would be to go the way Ryo went." Sage concluded. The others nodded and were about to go when they heard a shout from behind.

"Hey, wait for us."

The group turned to see Sekhmet, Cye, Anubis, Kero and White Blaze coming up behind them.

"We just heard from Alanna and Yulie what happened. What's going on?" Anubis asked out of breath.

"Ryo chased after the lone thief and went that way, so that's were we are heading." Sage informed them as the newly enlarged group ran into the forest. They had transformed into their sub armors incase there was trouble, they wanted to be prepared. The group had stopped at a clearing and was searching for clues when they heard a twig snap behind them. The group whirled around to see the very person they had been looking for. 

"Ryo!" Sakura cried rushing to him and throwing her arms around his neck.  "I thought something had happened to you."

"Why would you think that?" the disguised Seriyu asked.

"Well, you went after the guy, and you didn't come back for quite a while and things were getting to be suspicious so…" Cale said dropping off. 

Seriyu nodded his understanding. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you all, the guy I was following kept turning this way and that and I just kept following until I lost sight of him." He explained as Sakura finally let go if him. White Blaze suddenly appeared beside Sakura and prepared to pounce at Seriyu. Seriyu cast a leery eye at the white tiger as he sprung and caused Seriyu to fall back and land with a thud. 

"Get him off me! He's attacking me!" Seriyu yelled as White Blaze gave his face a lick. Sakura looked on with confusion.

"Ryo," she finally said as White Blaze realized Seriyu wasn't happy about his greeting. "It's just White Blaze, you know, your tiger." She said.

Seriyu realized his mistake and tried to cover it up. "Oh yeah, of course, I knew. I was just playing along." He finished lamely. The rest of the group gave him a weird look. 

"Are you okay?" Cye asked uncertainly.

"Yeah." Seriyu answered. By now White Blaze and Kero had gotten a whiff of Seriyu scent. The two tigers growled menacingly at him as they backed slowly toward Sakura. Sakura looked at the two tiger confused. 

"Kero, White Blaze, what is wrong with you two?" she asked as they bared their teeth at the intruder. Seriyu had an uncomfortable look on his face. 

'I forgot about the tigers.' He thought to himself. Kero and White Blaze had no idea as to who this impersonator was, but they didn't like him. Kero had smelled that scent before, but was unsure where. All he knew was that he didn't like it and if he made one move toward his master, Sakura, someone would be on the ground. White Blaze also stood in front of Sakura. He knew that although it may look like his master, Ryo. It defiantly wasn't him and he knew that if Ryo was there, he would want White Blaze to protect Sakura. Sakura gave the two tigers a tap on the head. 

"Come on you two, stop growling at him." She said as she stepped toward Seriyu. "It's just Ryo." She said standing next to him.

Seriyu tried to look normal and put his arm around Sakura's waist. As soon as he moved Kero let out a ferocious roar and Seriyu quickly let his arm drop back to his side. 

"Kero!" Sakura said sternly. 

"It's okay, Sakura." Seriyu said. "They probably smell that guy I was chasing on me or something." 

"Maybe, anyway, we need to get back. I bet Alanna and Yulie are getting worried." She said as they all turned to head toward the house. Kero and White Blaze walked a few steps behind Seriyu intent on making sure he didn't try anything. Sage, Anubis, Rowen, and Cye lagged behind.

"Is it just me, or is Ryo acting a little weird?" Sage asked. The others nodded their agreement. 

"And what is up with Kero and White Blaze?" Cye questioned. The others shrugged and decided to put the matter away. It had been along day and everyone was jumpy and tired. Sakura was oblivious to all this, she was just happy that Ryo was safe. When, unknown to her, he wasn't. 


	10. chapter ten

Ryo had almost given up hope; there was no possible way for him to get out of the shackle that held him prisoner to the wall. He leaned his head back against the wall and sighed hopelessly. 'I'll never get out of here.' He thought to himself. Then he straightened up. No he had to, or that jerk was going to get Sakura and that definitely wasn't going to happen in this lifetime. Not while he was still alive. Ryo gazed around the room to look for something to help him escape. He eyes swept past the floor to the table and back again. Then he saw it. A tiny glimmer of silver, it was a safety pin. Ryo had just enough length of chain to reach it. He opened it and quickly set about trying to pick the lock.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Everyone else, back at the house, was glad to see that, who they thought was Ryo, was safe and sound. Sakura wasn't willing to leave his side for a minute. The group lounged around in the living room for a while before going to sleep. Sakura and the girls went to get ready for bed first. Everyone else gradually made their way to their own rooms. The girls had just laid down and gotten comfortable when they heard a slight scratching on the door. Confused Sakura got up and answered the door. Outside was a sad looking White Blaze.

"White Blaze? What are you doing out here?" she asked looking down the hall where Ryo's room was. "You always sleep with Ryo, and he always leaves the door open a crack to let you in and out." Sure enough, the door was closed. Sakura moved out of the way to let the tiger in. 

"You can sleep with us tonight." She said. "Kero, move over and let White Blaze on the bed." Kero did as he was told and White Blaze jumped up next to him. After Sakura had gotten back into bed the white tiger laid his head across her leg with sad growl. Sakura sat up and pet the tiger on the head. 

"Awww, poor guy. I'm sure Ryo didn't mean to lock you out." She consoled. 

"Ryo locked White Blaze out?" Mia asked incredulous. 

"But White Blaze always sleeps with Ryo." Alanna added. Sakura shrugged her shoulders. 

"Apparently not always." Sakura said. 

"I'm sure Ryo just forgot or something and he'll apologize to you tomorrow, White Blaze." Alanna said consolingly to the depressed tiger. The other two girls nodded their agreement as thy drifted off to sleep. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ryo worked tirelessly throughout the night to unlock the shackle. He had almost given up when he heard the click and felt the cold metal fall off his wrist. Ryo stared happily at his free wrist as he rubbed it to get the circulation back. Now he had to find a way to get off this floating castle. He opened the door to his room that imprisoned him and quietly slipped out into the hallway. He looked both ways and ran down the corridor. He stopped when he got to the hall lined with tapestries. Even though he was in a hurry, he stopped for a second to look at the story they told. He wanted to stay there longer, but he heard footsteps down the hall. Panicking he hurriedly hid behind a half open door until the footsteps fading in the distance. Ryo cautiously stuck his head out and looked to make sure that no one was around. He made his way toward the dragon stables. Seriyu had told him that if he wanted any chance of getting off this floating castle, then he would have to ride a dragon down. He wasn't really sure how that was going to happen, but first he just needed to get there. He made it uneventfully to the dragon stables and peeked inside. There were five dragons all sitting calmly in the specially made stalls. 

_'Now to find a way to get one out without anyone noticing.'_ Ryo thought. 

"Hey!" a voice called behind him. Ryo froze. _'Oh no! I've been caught!' he thought as ideas of how to get out of this racked his brain. _

The man who had called out to him approached. "Oh, Lord Seriyu, I didn't know that was you." The man said bowing low. Ryo blinked in surprise then shrugged.

"Would you like me to saddle a mount for you sir?" the servant asked. Ryo nodded his head, not trusting himself to speak. The servant did as he was bade and a few minutes later Ryo was soaring gracefully off the castle grounds. Ryo looked back and smiled. Now to find Sakura. 


	11. chapter eleven

Once the dragon landed on the ground Ryo hopped off and sent the dragon back to the castle. It wouldn't do for one of the servants who knew about the switch to find a missing dragon. After Ryo watched to dragon fly out of sight, Ryo started walking towards Mia's house. He really didn't know how long it was going to take him to get back home, but he was going to get there as fast as he could. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning Sakura woke up around her normal time, 11:00. Sakura had never been a morning person and Alanna and Mia, who were, always made pains to make sure they didn't wake her up. Especially now that she was almost always up past midnight, making wedding arrangements. Thinking about her and Ryo's upcoming wedding made her fall back on the pillows and sigh. _'Who would have thought that even a small wedding would take so much planning?' she thought to herself petting the still sleeping Kero and White Blaze. Ryo had left her in charge of the wedding. Sakura remembered the conversation they had had about who was coming, what kind of cake it would be and things like that._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*(Flashback)*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Okay Ryo, where do you want the wedding to be?" Sakura asked Ryo as he was spread out on the couch.

"Where do you want it to be?" He asked lazily watching his fiancé scribble on a notepad. 

"Well, we could have it outside or in a church or a pavilion type thing." Sakura said giving out suggestions.

"Anything is fine with me." Ryo answered. Sakura scribbled on the pad. 

"Ok, how many can we expect from you side?" she asked. "I mean besides everyone who lives here."

"Who ever you want to come is fine." Ryo again said shrugging. Sakura gave Ryo a frustrated look out of the corner of her eye at his lack of answers.

"What kind of cake do you want?" she asked as she perched atop the side of the chair.

"I don't care." Ryo answered. Sakura slammed the notepad she had been writing on down on the cushion. 

"Ok, this isn't just a one person thing Ryo!" she said angrily. "Your getting married too you know!"

Ryo, realizing that his seeming lack on interest made her upset sat up. "I know." He said.

"Then you think you could help me out a little bit here?!" she asked frustrated. 

"Look, to be honest I really don't care about the wedding all that much." Ryo admitted. Sakura's eyes widened. 

"Excuse me!" she said in a tone of voice that almost made Ryo cringe. It meant she was mad and he better say something to make the situation better, and fast.

"I mean that we can get married in a court room for all I care." He answered. Sakura raised on eyebrow, showing she wasn't happy with his answer.

"Look, I know this is probably different from you, but I'm not really going to remember the wedding all that much after it's done. I'm not going to remember who was there, who married us, or what kind of cake we had. All I'm going to remember is that on that day, I took you as my wife, and vowed to protect, and love you the rest of my life." Ryo said as he got up and put his arms around Sakura. Sakura looked at him. 

"So the only thing that you're going to remember is saying I do, basically." She asked.

"Well… that and the wedding night." Ryo teased, making Sakura blush. "All that matters to me is that we get married." Ryo said giving her a kiss on the forehead. 

"Fine, you're off the hook." She said as she kissed him back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*(End Flashback)*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura smiled remembering as she got up out of bed and, made her way down stairs. She had just reached the bottom of the stairs when she saw the Ryo-looking Seriyu pass by. He glanced at her when he saw her and stopped. 

"Good morning, sweetie! I thought you were never going to wake up!" he said cheerfully. Sakura peeked a glance at the clock. 

"Ryo it's only 11:10. I normally get up about this time, you know that. Now what's weird is that you beat me. You are even less of a morning person than I am." Sakura said giving him a weird look. 

Seriyu panicked for a moment. "I just had so much excitement yesterday that I couldn't wait to get up." He explained. Sakura seemed to take this for a good answer and Seriyu let out a sigh of relief. _'That was a close one.' He thought as he escorted her to the kitchen._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Back at Seriyu's castle, Hudson had just walked into the room that held the imprisoned Ryo. Finding the opened shackle and missing Ronin he immediately called all hands to see him. 

"Have any of you seen a man who looks just like Lord Seriyu?" he asked urgently. The man from the dragon stables took a tentative step forward. 

"I did, I gave him a dragon to get down to the mainland." He said in a trembling voice. Hudson cursed. 

"I want every available man down there looking for him. Report back in two hours." Hudson commanded. The servants all rushed to do as they were bid as Hudson sat wearily down on a chair. He just hoped that he wouldn't have to tell Lord Seriyu about this.


	12. chapter twelve

Ryo dodged to hide behind another tree as the shadow of a low flying dragon and its rider passed over head. This was getting ridiculous. Ryo had barely made any progress in reaching Mia's house, because of all the people looking for him. That had been the fourth dragon in less than ten minutes. He was getting nowhere fast. He looked up at the sky, and then around trying to find another low outcropping he could hide under for awhile. Seriyu's men were defiantly going through the forest with a fine toothed comb making sure that they didn't miss him. Ryo hurried over to his next hiding spot and waited to see if anyone had noticed his mad dash. He breathed a sigh of relief. He at least was in semi- familiar territory now and at least knew the general direction to head in. But at the rate he was going with having to hide every five seconds, it would take him a day just to get to the city. __

_'But, I have to hurry.'_ He thought to himself. _'There's no telling what that jerk will do if Sakura figures out that that man isn't who he is pretending to be. I bet White Blaze isn't giving him an easy time either.' _Ryo thought withchuckle as he glanced around and kept heading toward Mia's house.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura stared at Seriyu in amazement as they were eating lunch that afternoon. She wasn't the only one. Everyone else was also exchanging glances. The disguised Seriyu didn't notice the furtive glances passed around the table as he continued to eat an enormous meal. He finally glanced up and noticed he was the only one eating. 

"What?" he asked looking around the table.

"Are you ok?" Cye asked him.

"Yeah, why?" Seriyu asked wondering what the heck he had done wrong now. Pretending to be a person he knew nothing about was harder than he imagined it would be.

"You're just eating a lot more than you normally do." Kento said simply. That was an understatement. Ryo normally wasn't one of the heavier eaters of the group. But today he was shoveling food in his mouth right and left, as if he hadn't had a good meal in weeks.

"I'm just really hungry today." Seriyu replied as he finished. The others decided to ignore his strange behavior and turned too the subject of what to do with the day.

"Hey, let's go out and play some soccer or something." Sage suggested.

"Yeah, we haven't done anything like that in a long time." Sekhmet agreed. 

"I'm in." Sakura said her voiced echoed by everyone else's. 

"What about you Ryo? You in?" Cale asked turning to him.

Seriyu looked at the group, he hated soccer. "Naw, I think I'll just watch this time." Everyone's mouths dropped open in shock.

"You can be captain!" Sakura offered, knowing he loved picking teams.

"That's alright." Seriyu said not noticing the shocked looks. "I have some other things to take care of." He said as he left the room.

The others gave each other worried looks as they went outside to start their game. Sakura lagged behind the others. _'Since when does Ryo not want to play soccer? It's his favorite sport.' Sakura really didn't have time to think of it again until later that night. She, Alanna, and Mia were about to fall asleep when once again, they were disturbed by a small scratch at the door. Sakura went to the door and opened it to reveal once again a despondent White Blaze. _

"He locked you out again?" Mia voiced in surprise when she saw the tiger jump on Sakura's bed. "That's the second time!"

"I know." Sakura said situating herself between the two tigers. She lay back down and suddenly sat back up.

"Is it just me or had Ryo been acting a little…well…peculiar lately?" She asked the two other women. 

"Peculiar? Sakura he's been acting down right weird." Mia said. Sakura face saddened.

"I know." She said sadly. 

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Alanna asked gently.

"I don't know!" Sakura said fervently. "He keeps shrugging it off. Maybe he's getting nervous about our upcoming wedding. I mean, it's in less than a month."

"I don't think that's it." Mia consoled. "He's been waiting for this wedding since he asked you to be his girlfriend."

"Well, something is up. And tomorrow, I'm getting him alone and finding out what!" Sakura said decisively.

"When?" Alanna voiced.

Sakura thought for a minute. "After training, he'll be so tired that he won't be able to walk off." She said as she lay back down and fell asleep.


	13. chapter thirteen

Seriyu stared carefully into the leafy foliage of the trees. He had a feeling that was where Sakura was hiding. _'Why did I ever let her talk me into this whole training thing?' he wondered to himself as he waited for her to make her move. Sakura watched him from behind. _'He thinks, I'm in the trees.'_ She said to herself as she quietly sneaked up behind him. She was almost able to reach out and touch him when she stepped on a twig. Seriyu turned around at the sound of the crack and brought his sword up to defend against her blow. Sakura struck out and recoiled when he blocked. Feinting to the right she stopped and swung at his left catching the imposter off guard. Seriyu landed with his back on the ground his shirt slightly ripped after she hit him with the flat of her sword. Seriyu scowled angrily when her face appeared in his view. _

"You alright?" she asked holding out her hand to help him up.  Seriyu angrily pushed her hand away as Sakura stared at him in surprise. Her features then contorted into one of slight anger. What was up with him? He wasn't performing up to his normal standards with the sword. He had made novice mistakes the entire session then had the audacity to act angrily when she easily beat him without breaking a sweat. Seriyu tossed his sword over to the side and went to sit under the shade of a nearby tree, breathing heavily. _'I guess now is as good a time as ever.'_ Sakura thought as she walked over to him.

"Ryo, are you alright?" she asked gently. Seriyu gave her an annoyed look.

"I told you yesterday and I told you today that I'm fine." He said attempting to control his temper. "Why must you keep asking?"

"Because you're acting weird!" Sakura protested sitting next to him, though not as close as she normally would have. 

"No, I'm not!" Seriyu argued. Sakura sat silent for a moment staring blankly at the house. White Blaze and Kero were close by watching the pair.

"Geez!" Seriyu finally said interrupting the silence. "That tiger is so annoying! He glares as me every time he sees me." Seriyu said indicating White Blaze.

"See! This is what I'm talking about!" Sakura said looking at Seriyu.

"What?" he asked. 

"You're behaving so differently. Why?" Sakura persisted.

"I'm not!" Seriyu yelled back defensively.

"Oh really!" Sakura said her temper flaring. "Then maybe you can explain some things to me." She said crossing her arms.

"Like what?" Seriyu asked.

"Like why White Blaze and Kero never go near you anymore, or why all of a sudden you're a morning person and neat as a pin. Your appetite has changed and since when do you not like soccer?" Sakura shouted at him. Seriyu turned his head away ignoring her questions.

"What is up with you? Everyone else had noticed it too! I'm really getting worried about you!" Sakura said putting her hand on his arm. 

Seriyu glared at her. "Look! Will you just drop it! I'm not acting different. Everyone is just getting all upset over nothing and it's driving me crazy. So could you just do me a favor and get off my back!" He yelled harshly. Sakura stared at him her face a mixture of shock and sadness. She withdrew her hand and leaned her back against the tree avoiding his gaze. 

"Look!" Seriyu began. "I'm sorry, I'm just frustrated. I didn't mean to yell at you." He said trying to get back in her good graces. Sakura looked at him from the corner of her eye and gave him a half smile. Seriyu smiled confident that he had here right where he wanted her. He leaned back against the tree. Sakura stared in shock when he did. She quickly scooted closer to him and reached down his shirt. Seriyu jerked his head up in surprise. 

"What are you doing?!" he demanded as Sakura produced two back amulets from inside his shirt. She had seen the sun glinting off their cold hard surface. 

"What are these?" she asked running her fingers over the design etched on the top. Seriyu panicked, but forced himself to speak calmly. 

"I found them yesterday." He lied. Sakura stared intently at the amulets. _'I've seen these before.'_ She thought to herself. _'But where?'_ she didn't get time to think of it any more when Seriyu quickly took them from her hands and put them back around his neck. She was just about to ask him more about them when she heard a ring. 

"What is that?" she asked looking around. Seriyu reached inside his pocket and produced a phone. Sakura stared at the ringing phone shocked. 

"You have a phone?" she asked incredulous. "Since when?" she asked.

"Look, I need to take this, I'll talk to you later!" Seriyu said as he walked off quickly. Sakura stared at his retreating back as she frowned. 

_'Now I know that there is something defiantly wrong!'_ she thought to herself as she got up and walked back to the house to talk to the others. Seriyu waited until he knew he was out of hearing distance before answering the call.

'What!?" he hissed. 

"Lord Seriyu, …he's escaped." Came the reply as Seriyu snarled and curled his fists in fury.


	14. chapter fourteen

Ryo had finally made it to the city and was resting against the side of a building. _'It's about time I got here.'_ He thought to himself as regained his breath. It seemed as though Seriyu's minions had gotten tired of scouring the streets for him and had given up. He hadn't seen them in over an hour. Ryo turned his thoughts off of Seriyu and onto Sakura. How was he going to get her to believe him that he wasn't who he looked to be. According to Seriyu, Sakura hated his guts and probably would freak if she knew that he was on the same planet as her, let alone pretending to be him. Ryo clenched his fists in fury. 

"Seriyu! Your going to pay for this." He promised himself as he started heading once again for Mia's house. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Guys, I don't know what's going on, but that man is not Ryo!" Sakura proclaimed to the listening group. They had all crowded around her when she got back from training and she told them everything that had happened. All the way from White Blaze sleeping in her room the past two nights, up to his mysterious call on the cell phone no one knew he had. 

"What do you mean he's not Ryo?" a confused Yulie asked. "He looks the same to me."

"He may look the same, but he defiantly doesn't act the same." Cye said confirming Sakura's statement.

"We have to do something about this." Anubis said. "I mean, obviously something happened to Ryo."

"But what?" Dais asked finishing Anubis' sentence. 

"You got me." Kento spoke up.

"I think the reasonable thing to do is to make a list of people that we know have some kind of grudge against Ryo, or Sakura." Mia suggested.

"Why me?" Sakura asked.

"Because, someone may be impersonating Ryo to get back at you." She explained.

"That's plausible, but not likely." Rowen chimed in. "I mean if he was going to do something to Sakura, he's already had countless chances for him to do something to her." 

"So far he hasn't made a single threatening move toward Sakura." Cale pointed out. 

"Probably because White Blaze and Kero won't let him get anywhere near her without showing their teeth!" Kento joked. Everyone laughed at that as Sakura rubbed the two tigers head affectionately. 

"So they must be after Ryo." Sakura concluded. 

"But who? That's the main question." Alanna said.

"And why." Dais added.

"Well, the only people that I can think of that have a long standing grudge against Ryo are Talpa and Aria. And we haven't seen hide nor hair of them for a while now." Rowen thought out loud. Suddenly White Blaze gave a growl directed at the door. 

"I bet that's our imposter." Sakura said bitterly. "Wait till I get my hands on him. I'll make him tell us what he did to Ryo." She said threateningly as she stood and headed for the door.

"No, Sakura, don't let him know that we know." Cye said stopping Sakura in her tracks. 

"Why?" she protested. 

"Because he might get desperate if he knows that we've figured out his little secret and do something to hurt Ryo." Cye said wisely. Sakura's shoulder's slumped in defeat. 

"Fine." She said sadly as Alanna and Mia got up to comfort her. 

"Don't worry." Mia said. "We'll find him. And then you two can finally get married." 

_'Married!'_ Anubis thought as an idea flashed through his head. "Look, guys we can continue this conversation later alright. Just not when he's around and make sure that you act normal!" Anubis said directing his last comment at Sakura. She looked at him sheepishly. 

_'He knows me too well.'_ Sakura thought just as Seriyu entered the room. 

"Where ya been?" Sage asked him conversationally. 

"Oh, I had a call I had to take." Seriyu said nonchalantly.

"You have a phone?" Dais asked surprised. 

Seriyu inadvertently clenched his hands. _'What is up with this guy that he doesn't have a phone? Every one has a phone.' "Yeah, just recently." He lied as everyone seemed to take his answer at face value. _

"Well, I need to run to the store. Anyone want to join me?" Mia asked looking directly at the people she wanted to talk to. Thankfully they all got the message as Sage, Cye, Anubis, Sakura, and Dais said they would join her. 

"Well then lets get going." She said cheerfully as they left the house and headed for the city. 


	15. chapter fifteen

The little group walked toward the city, Sakura scowling the entire way.

"What's up with you?" Dais asked her and he fell into step next to her. 

"I'm just frustrated I guess. I mean if that guy is Ryo, then he's been acting really strange, and if it isn't then that means that Ryo had been missing for two days and nobody has known about it. A lot of things could have happened to him in two days!" Sakura said her voice edged with worry. 

"Don't worry, Sakura." Dais said giving her a small hug of comfort. "He'll be okay. He's proven more than once that he can take care of himself."

Sakura nodded her head in agreement when they had finally arrived at the city. 

"All right, here's what we need." Mia said as they clustered around her. "Sakura you go here, Dais and Anubis, you guys go here, Sage and Cue you go here and I'll go here." Mia instructed handing them each a piece of paper filled with objects they needed to buy. 

"We'll meet back here in two hours." Mia said. "That should give you all enough time to get what is on the list." And with that the group went their separate ways. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ryo was walking down an alley of the city when he spotted Dais and Anubis walking towards a store. The two were deep in conversation. Ryo's eyes lit up.

_'Perfect!'_ he thought._ 'I'll just get Dais and Anubis to believe it's me first; once they believe and tell Sakura she'll be able to help me get out of this.'_

So with confidence in his plan, Ryo stepped out of the shadows and called to them. Dais heard his name and turned to see who was calling him. Dais' eyes widened in shock when he saw the Seriyu disguised Ryo. He pointed him out to Anubis who had the same reaction. The two looked at each other then charged at him. Ryo's face fell when he saw the look of anger on the two men's faces. When they reached him Anubis grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the brick wall of the building. 

"Well, if it isn't out long lost friend Seriyu!" Dais drawled as Anubis pressed him tightly to the wall.

"I have a feeling that you're somehow related to our current situation." Anubis hissed at him. Ryo shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Anubis again.

"Don't even try to worm your way out of this one!" Anubis said his voice a clear indication of how much he disliked him. "We haven't seen you since you were taken away and then you show up and our friend goes missing, so you had better start talking or you not going to like your other option." He threatened.

Ryo shook his head earnestly. "No, you guys don't understand. I'm Ryo!" 

Anubis slowly lowered Ryo so that his feet once again touched the ground, but he didn't release his death grip on him.

"What! You expect us to believe that!" Dais asked incredulous.

"How stupid do you think we are?" Anubis chimed in. 

"No, look I know this sounds weird, but Seriyu did something to me and now he looks like me and I look like him!" Ryo explained. Dais and Anubis looked at each other in confusion. 

"I know it really doesn't make a lot of sense, but it really is me! I can prove it. Ask me anything, something that only I would know." Ryo encouraged anxious to get them to believe his seemingly far-fetched story. Dais and Anubis thought about that when Dais suddenly remembered something. It was an incident that happened a few months ago that involved him, Sage and Ryo. Something happened to Sage and he made the two others swear that they wouldn't tell. And they hadn't. Dais looked at Ryo and smiled. 

"Alright." He said. "What happened to Sage that one time when me you and him took that trip a few months back. The thing that he made us swear not to tell!"

Ryo's face clouded in confusion, then suddenly brightened as he burst out laughing. "Well." He began trying to choke back a laugh. 

"Well we needed to get into this building to get some information about where we were because we got lost. And it turned out that it was a women only club, they wouldn't even speak to us. So we drew straws to see who would go in and get the required information. Sage lost and he had to dress up like a girl. He wore a pink dress and a hat. And we took black mail pictures, they are hidden under the third tree from the right next to the garden." Ryo answered. Anubis had to hold his sides as he imagined Sage in pink dress. Dais confirmed his answer and the three had a good laugh. When they finally caught their breath they looked at Ryo. 

'It is you!" Dais said. "Sorry about the rough treatment."

Ryo shrugged it off. "Don't worry about it. And now that you two know who I am, we can tell Sakura and get Seriyu." 

Dais and Anubis exchanged glances. "I'm afraid it won't be that easy." 


	16. chapter sixteen

"Why not?" Ryo asked looking from Dais to Anubis and back again. 

"Sakura isn't going to be so easy to persuade. Even if we believe you, that really won't hold a lot of water with her." Dais said.

"But she considers you two to be her brothers. I mean surely if you say that I am who I say I am, then she'll believe you." Ryo protested. 

"Normally that would be true, but I'm afraid things are much different this time." Anubis said sadly. 

"Sakura has a really big grudge against Seriyu and well, she tends too lose her head and be irrational when it comes to dealing with him." Dais informed the stricken Ryo. 

"But why?" Ryo asked loudly. "What could he have possibly done to make her so upset with him!"

Dais and Anubis exchanged glances. "It's not our story to tell, but she has every reason to be as angry towards him as she is. At least, we think so." Anubis sighed.

"If you want to find out what happened I suggest you ask Sakura, but I'd tread carefully when it comes to that subject. She might blow up at you." Dais warned. 

"I'm not going to have a problem with that if I can't even get near her!" Ryo said bitterly. 

"Well, things aren't as hopeless as they look. Sakura loves you with all her heart and a lot of times that overrules everything else. We can try to use that to our advantage. Because once Sakura believes you, everyone else will accept her decision without argument." Anubis said thoughtfully. 

"So what do we do?" Ryo asked. 

"I think the best thing to do is to let her see you. Once she has, she'll follow you. Lead her out to the forest and we'll wait for you there." Anubis said outlining his plan. "Once we make sure that she can't get to you, you can tell your side of the story and we'll go from there." 

Ryo nodded his agreement as Anubis and Dais went to wait for Sakura in the forest. Ryo stayed in the alley way, half hidden, but still in plain view of the store Sakura was in. It wasn't long until Sakura made her appearance. Ryo used his sword to reflect the light of the sun at Sakura. Sakura saw the glint out of the corner of her eye as she stared at the person reflecting the light at her. Once she realized who it was she gasped in horror and rage. With a grim look she ran straight at him as Ryo took off. Sakura ran her hardest trying to catch up to who she thought was Seriyu. _'Seriyu!' she thought with loathing. __'I'm going to get you. I swore that I would make you pay and you will!' she promised herself as she continued running after him. Ryo was quickly running out of breath.  _

_'Since when did she get so fast?'_ he wondered to himself as Sakura closed the gap between them. Luckily for Ryo, Anubis and Dais had anticipated this and were hiding close by. Sakura drew her sword as she neared Ryo. Ryo looked behind him and saw the metallic glint of her blade as she sped up. Suddenly she was gone. Ryo made the mistake of sliding to a stop. H turned his head from side to side trying to see what had happened to her. Sakura's eyes flashed dangerously as she watched him like a tiger stalking his prey. She waited until the perfect moment when she leapt at him. Next thing Ryo knew he was lying face up on the ground, with Sakura sitting on his waist. Her left hand was planted firmly against his chest, preventing him from moving as he noticed her sword tip inches from his neck. Sakura's golden eyes, normally sparkling with happiness were now shooting sparks of hate and loathing. And they were aimed right at him. Ryo was flabbergasted. He had never seen her have so much hate towards one person before. Ryo's normally blue eyes, had been changed because of Seriyu into Seriyu's green eyes. These were the eyes that gazed up at Sakura. Sakura saw the surprise etched in his features then change from surprise to love. 

"Sakura," Ryo murmured. The emotion contained within his eyes and voice caused Sakura to falter, long enough for Dais and Anubis to grab her from behind. Sakura once again started kicking and screaming eager to get away from her captors. When she realized who it was she stopped and looked at them with confusion. Ryo picked himself up off the ground and brushed himself off. 

"Kinda cutting it close there!" Ryo scolded them. 

"Sorry, we didn't think she was going to go straight for the kill." Dais said. Sakura looked at the faces of Dais and Anubis.

"All right, you two want to tell me what is going on and why you stopped be from killing that that…" Sakura had to stop mid sentance. She couldn't think straight she was so mad.

"Calm down, ya little spitfire!" Anubis said soothingly. "You'll understand in a minute, but first you have to be willing to listen to him." He said indicating Ryo. 

Sakura glared at him as she turned her head. 

"Drop dead!" she spat as Dais and Anubis sighed wearily. This was going to take a while.


	17. chapter seventeen

"Sakura, it's me, Ryo." Ryo said stepping closer to her. Dais and Anubis felt her tense as he got nearer.

"You're not Ryo!" she spat at him. Ryo stopped in his tracks, not wanting to put her out of her comfort zone. He knew her being this close to him, while he looked like Seriyu was hard enough. "Ryo is back at the house."

"You don't believe that!" Ryo said knowingly. " I can tell you don't." Sakura averted her eyes not wanting him to see that he was right. That man at the house wasn't Ryo, and she knew it. But she wasn't about to give Seriyu the pleasure of knowing he was right. 

"Look, I know that this is hard for you, but I really am Ryo!" Ryo said again as he stepped closer to where Dais and Anubis held her between them, captive. Sakura struggled at his closeness.  She didn't know why, but she felt herself trying to persuade her to believe him. Ryo saw the struggle in her eyes and it tore him up inside him to have to do this to her. But he needed her to believe him if things were ever going to get back to the way they were. 

_'It's not him.'_ Sakura told herself. _'He's lying, he's not Ryo! But… what if it is? You know that the man back at the house isn't Ryo, maybe Seriyu did something to him.' _

Lost in her mental battle, Ryo took this opportunity to stand right in front of her. He took her face in his hands and tilted it toward him. Sakura struggled more valiantly at his touch causing Dais and Anubis to almost lose their grip. 

"Sakura, listen to him!" Dais instructed. "He's telling the truth!"

"No!" Sakura shouted forcing herself to stare at the ground, avoiding Ryo's now green eyes. "Seriyu has brainwashed you both!" she yelled as a single tear slipped down her cheek. "It's happening again." She said in a sad whisper. 

"Sakura look at me!" Ryo commanded forcing Sakura to meet his intense gaze. Sakura reluctantly met his gaze head on and what she saw in his eyes shocked her. While on the outside, his eye's were green, she could still sense, more than see the cool blue eyes of Ryo that she knew so well. Ryo leaned forward and kissed her softly. When he pulled back Sakura was gazing at him in confusion and bewilderment. Ryo kissed her like that. _'No! It can't be him! But I felt it, when he kissed me, I could feel him.' _

"Ryo" she whispered. 

"It's me, Sakura, you have to believe me." Ryo said gently. Sakura slowly relaxed her muscles as Dais and Anubis relaxed their grip as well. 

"Ryo" She said again. "Oh, Ryo" she said as she broke free of Dais and Anubis's grip and hugged the Seriyu looking Ryo. Ryo returned her hug as tears fell down her cheeks. She pushed back from his embrace and looked at him. 

"What happened to you? Where have you been? What's Seriyu up to?" Sakura asked firing off questions at Ryo. 

'Whoa, hold on, one at a time!" he said holding up his hand to her onslaught of questions. Ryo then proceeded to tell Dais, Anubis, and Sakura all that had happened to him. 

"A black amulet?" Sakura asked when he finished the story. "Did one of them have a golden design on the top?" 

"Yes! Have you seen them?" Ryo asked urgently. 

Sakura nodded her head. "Yes, he wears both of them around his neck."

"We need to get one" Ryo said suddenly. "If we're going to change back that is. That's the key how to do it." 

"Good, then all we need to do it grab one when he's asleep." Dais said. Sakura shook her head. 

"He never takes them off!" Sakura said knowingly. "And even if we did manage to get one, don't you think that if he goes through the trouble of keeping them with him all day that he would notice if he was missing one?" 

"Yeah, you're probably right." Anubis said. "And I wouldn't be surprised if he knows that Ryo's escaped by now."

"I bet that was the phone call that he got." Dais said remembering what Sakura had told them about his mysterious call.

"So he probably knows that I'm trying to get back home and trying to persuade you guys that he's not me." Ryo finished. 

"Great!" Sakura said slumping her shoulders. She then straightened up. "But I think I can still get one of the amulets." She pronounced.

"How are you going to do that without him noticing?" Anubis asked. 

"I have my ways." She said mysteriously. 

"Oh, no you don't!" Ryo said, his jealously flaring. "I know what you're planning!" 

"What?" Sakura asked innocently.

"Come on, you do that same thing every time you want me to take my mind off something. First you make me sit on the couch, then you start to massage my shoulders, then… well you know!" Ryo said not wanting his fiancé anywhere near his counterfeit counterpart. 

"I'll have the amulet, before I kiss him. I wouldn't kiss that man if my life depended on it." Sakura said crossing her arms. "So you have nothing to be jealous about." 

"Fine, you might be able to get the amulet that way, but how are you going to keep him from noticing?" Dais asked anticipating Seriyu's reaction once he found out he'd been tricked.

"Again, I have it all covered." Sakura said confidently. 

"Whatever you do, make sure you get the one with the design on it." Ryo cautioned. "I have a feeling, that if this plan is going to work, that we need that one." Sakura nodded her understanding as Dais looked at his watch. 

"Guys, we were supposed to meet the others, thirty minutes ago." He said pointing to his watch. The four stood up as the headed back to the city.  

"Ryo, I don't think that it's a good idea for you to let anyone else see you." Anubis said as they headed back.

"Why not?"

"Because the less people that know about this the better." Anubis said knowingly. "If too many people know, there's a greater chance that your look-alike with figure out that we're planning something and as you know, the element of surprise to of the utmost importance in this mission." 

"He's got a point." Dais agreed. 

"Fine," Ryo answered sullenly. "But I'm not going to be far from the house." He warned. The others nodded their agreement as they came within view of the city.


	18. chapter eighteen

"What happened to you guys?" Mia questioned when Dais, Anubis, and Sakura finally met them at the meeting place. 

"Did you forget what you were supposed to get?" Sage asked noticing their empty hands. 

"Sorry, we got a little distracted." Sakura admitted. 

"Well it wasn't really necessary so we'll just head back to the house. I bet the others are wondering what happened to us anyway." Mia said as the others nodded in agreement. The group started to head back to the house, Sakura lagging behind slightly, but not enough to be noticed. She turned her head and gazed behind her, just so she could see Ryo slowly making his way behind them. The assurance that he was still there gave her comfort as she sped up and caught up with the others. They made it back to the house in little time as entered in through the front door. 

"We're back!" Sage yelled through the house. Alanna came out of the kitchen to help take the groceries as Seriyu came from downstairs. Sakura had to check herself to keep from shooting him a dirty look. 

"Hey, what took you so long?" Seriyu asked giving Sakura a squeeze. Sakura forced herself to respond, but quickly dropped her arms. 

"We had a lot of things to get." She said. Ryo was watching the entire scene through the window and gave an audible growl of jealousy when Sakura hugged Seriyu. Feeling a warm breath on the back of his neck he turned around to see White Blaze staring at him. 

"White Blaze!" Ryo said holding out his hands. White Blaze took a tentative sniff at Ryo's outstretched hands. Giving a growl of delight at the return of his master he quickly covered his face with his tongue.

"I missed you too, White Blaze." Came the muffled answer as he pushed him off. Ryo then moved away from the window for fear of being seen. Sakura had told him where to wait for her to bring the amulet to him. Back inside the house Sakura sat wearily on the couch with a groan. Anubis noticed her melancholy sigh as he sat next to her on the couch and gave her shoulders a squeeze. 

"Hey, it'll be alright." He said as Sakura leaned her head against his shoulder. 

"I know, I'm just frustrated." She said sadly. 

"When are you going to try for the amulet?" he whispered.

"As soon as I get the fake one ready. I should be able to make one in a little over an hour. So it'll either be done tonight or tomorrow." Sakura answered. Anubis nodded in agreement as Seriyu entered the room.   
"Should I be getting jealous?" he asked upon seeing Sakura on the couch with Anubis' arm around her shoulders. Sakura shot him a look as Anubis proceeded to give her another squeeze and leave. Seriyu took his place on the couch and resumed Anubis' position, with his arm around Sakura. Sakura had to fight to contain her anger at the audacity of the man next to her. _'Who does he think he is? He will pay for this intrusion, you can count on it!' Sakura thought with a grin._

"What are you smiling about?" Seriyu asked interrupting her thoughts. 

Sakura turned to face him and gave him a fake smile. "Nothing," she answered simply. "Nothing at all."

Later that night, Sakura sneaked out of the house to meet Ryo at the place she had instructed him to hide. She crept quietly down the stairs, avoiding all the ones she knew creaked, flanked by White Blaze and Kero. Opening the front door she waited with bated breath to see if she had been discovered. Hearing nothing, she slipped out the door, closing it firmly behind her. She quickly ran to where Ryo was waiting for her. 

"What are you doing out here?" Ryo asked startled when she appeared behind him.

"I couldn't sleep knowing that you were out here." She said sitting next to him as White Blaze curled up next to Ryo. Kero took his place next to Sakura. 

"I'm fine, but you should be inside." Ryo admonished, although he felt happy that she had been worried about him. 

"Tough." She told him, "Besides, I need to make that fake amulet." 

The crystal her mother had given her, emitted a blueish glow as Sakura attempted to create a duplicate of the amulet. Ryo moved closer to her to get a better look at the amulet that was supposedly supposed to take shape. Sakura stiffened at his closeness and Ryo cast her a sad look.

"It still bugs you that I look like Seriyu doesn't it?" he asked dejectedly. 

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Deep down, I know it's you and when you kiss me and look at me the way you always do, I see you and I feel you, but it's still hard when you look so much like some one I have disliked almost my entire life. Even if deep down inside, it's still you." 

"Why do you dislike him so much?" he asked tentatively remembering Dais cautioning him when attempting to broach this subject. Sakura stiffened even more and cast her attention back to the task at hand. Ryo observed this and wisely decided to let the matter drop. This was hard enough for her as it was, she didn't need to relive whatever traumatic experience that had happened between her and Seriyu. Sakura appreciated his letting the subject drop. She still wasn't ready to talk about it, even though she knew she would have to eventually. 

"So what exactly are you doing?" Ryo asked averting the subject. 

"Creating a duplicate of the original, it can't perform the abilities the original can, but it still looks the same and that's all we need it to do." Sakura answered as the outline of an amulet appeared between her hands. Soon, the fake amulet was ready and Sakura stood up to leave. 

"It's finished." She said as Ryo stood up as well and took her free hand in his. 

"I'll make the switch tomorrow." She continued avoiding his gaze. Ryo tilted her chin so that she had to meet his eyes. Sakura's expression softened as she leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder, needing his comfort. 

"Everything will be all right." Ryo assured her as he hugged her close. "I promise, and we'll get married soon, and then everything will be the same." He promised. 

"Why? Why is he doing this? What is it he wants?" she cried into his shoulder as Kero rubbed his head against her leg. 

"I don't know, but we'll find out and beat this guy. Okay?" He asked leaning her head back. Sakura nodded dismally. 

"I love you, Ryo." She said and kissed him despite his appearance of being Seriyu. Ryo broke the kiss and indicated the house. 

"You better go before they notice you've been gone." He said. Sakura nodded and headed back to the house, holding onto Ryo's hand as long as she could. White Blaze looked up at Ryo as he nodded on Sakura's direction. 

"Watch over her for me alright?"

White Blaze growled and trotted after her, flanked by Kero. Sakura hid the fake amulet in her pocket as she slipped inside. She was about to head up the stairs when a voice stopped her.

"Where have you been?" 

Sakura spun around to reveal Seriyu sitting lazily in the chair studying her intensely.  

"I couldn't sleep, so I just went out for a walk." She lied.

"At 1:30 in the morning?"

Sakura shrugged as Seriyu placed his hand on the small of her back. 

"Here, I'll walk you back to your room." He said as he forced her up the stairs. He stopped at the entrance to her room as the two tigers gave a growl of warning. Seriyu looked at them with contempt and turned to head back to Ryo's room. 

"See you in the morning, sweetie." He said as he closed the door behind him. Sakura waited until her heart slowed down to normal as she slowly went in her room and fell asleep.

   
  



	19. chapter nineteen

Sakura didn't sleep well that night. Her dreams were haunted by long forgotten memories and of Ryo. She woke up twice in a cold sweat. Kero and White Blaze did their best to comfort her, but they were of little help.  What she really needed, was Ryo, and he couldn't come inside for fear if being seen.  Sakura finally managed to fall asleep and woke up early the next morning. She got dressed all the while staring at the fake amulet she had made the night before as if it would disappear any minute. Once she was fully dressed she grabbed a chain and threaded it through a tiny hole at the top of the amulet. She then slipped in into her back pocket and went down stairs. She was unusually quiet all morning, which didn't go unnoticed by Dais and Anubis who knew what she was planning. They also had a job to do that day as well. If Sakura was going to get Seriyu into a relaxed state, they needed to get everyone out of the house, but keep a close watch on them just the same. After lunch, Sakura and Anubis cleaned dishes. 

"So when do you want to try for the switch?" he asked quietly. Sakura glanced over at Seriyu. 

"As soon as possible." she replied. Anubis nodded in acknowledgment and he and Anubis created a ruse to get everyone out of the house. As they left, Anubis snuck away from the group and went to where Ryo had spent the night. 

"Come on, Sakura's going to make the switch soon and I'd prefer it if we kept on eye on her." Anubis said. 

"I agree, you never know what that jerk might pull!" Ryo agreed as they quietly hid in the bushed outside the living room window. 

"You look tense." Sakura commented to Seriyu once everyone had left. 

"Yeah, my shoulders hurt a bit, I think I slept on them wrong, or something." He complained as he rolled his shoulders.  Sakura smiled. 

"Come over to the couch." She said persuasively. Seriyu got up and did as he was told. Sakura moved to the back of the couch and started to massage his shoulders. Seriyu sighed as the muscles in his shoulders relaxed. Sakura smiled as she quickly palmed the fake amulet in one of her hands. She continued the massage slowly moving her hands toward his collarbone. Seriyu sighed as Sakura slowly maneuvered her hand toward the chain that held the black amulet. She had just switched them when she felt a vise like grip on her wrist. Seriyu instantly jumped off the couch twisting Sakura's arm around her back. Sakura cried out in pain as she dropped the amulet. 

"How stupid do you think I am?" he hissed in her ear. Ryo and Anubis burst through the door at that minute as Seriyu glared at the two men.

"Let her go!" Ryo said threateningly. 

"Not a chance!" Seriyu shot back.

"How did you know?" Anubis asked. 

"Well, it's kinda obvious when you get a call from your servants telling you that the prisoner escaped. Then when Sakura started covertly avoiding me I got another clue. But the main reason I knew was because I followed her last night and saw her with Ryo. That was when I put the pieces together." He said sarcastically. Ryo stepped forward menacingly, but Seriyu just pulled on Sakura's arm harder causing her to wince. Ryo stopped and Seriyu smiled evilly.

"Good idea. The closer you get, the more she gets hurt." Seriyu threatened. Sakura reached behind her in an attempt to grab Seriyu when grabbed her other arm. 

"What do you want?" Sakura asked.

"The same thing I've always wanted." Seriyu said.

"And what would that be?" Ryo asked.

"Well, I don't know myself." Seriyu replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Anubis asked annoyed.

"He wants what's under father's throne!" Sakura blurted as realization dawned on her face.

"Very nice, I'm impressed that you would remember, although I guess after what happened there you wouldn't forget." Seriyu said his voice dripping with cruel intent.

"How could I?" Sakura asked bitterly.

"Under the throne?" Ryo asked confused.

"Under my fathers throne in the castle is a trap door. My father hid something, even I don't know what, under there and we were forbidden to go near it." Sakura explained. 

"And only someone from the direct blood line of Talpa can get through the door. Anyone else dies instantly." Anubis added.

"Well, anyways, I learned from my mistake last time! I need you to get under that throne." Seriyu said as he jerked her arm. "You're coming with me!"

"Not today!" Ryo said as he charged at Seriyu. Seriyu tossed Sakura to the side as he warded off Ryo's blow. The two set about the fight as Anubis rushed to Sakura's side. He helped her to her feet. 

"Anubis! The amulet" she said pointing to the glittering object on the floor. Seriyu noticed Anubis movement as he shoved Ryo away. Ryo fell to the floor as Seriyu struck Anubis' hand and snatched up the amulet. He held it up triumphantly as Sakura tackled him in the stomach. He fell to the ground with a thud sending the amulet skittering across the floor. Ryo managed to swipe it up and waited for the heartbeats to sound as one. 

"Conversion!" he shouted as a blinding flash lit the room. Anubis and Sakura shielded their eyes until the light faded. 

"Ryo?" Sakura asked looking at the man she had tackled before. Ryo looked at where he had been standing and saw a dazed Seriyu. 

"Yeah, it's me." He said as Sakura hugged him tightly. 

"I'm so glad your back" she whispered as Ryo returned her hug.


	20. chapter twenty

Seriyu snapped out of his daze and gazed in fury at Sakura in the arms of Ryo. He knew he had lost this battle so he attempted to leave. Ryo saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He immediately went after Seriyu. Seriyu sped up, but was blocked by Anubis standing at the door. Seriyu stopped and glanced around the room, when he saw it. The amulet lying on the floor a few feet away from Sakura. __

_'If I get that amulet back, I can use that to get myself out of here.'_ He thought as he dived for the amulet. Sakura saw what he was heading for and grabbed it a split second before Seriyu. Seriyu clawed at her hand as Sakura tossed the black gem to Ryo. Ryo caught it as Seriyu let out a scream of rage.

"Give me back that amulet!" he said threateningly as he once again grabbed Sakura and held her in a position that she couldn't fight. "Or she gets it." 

"Destroy it Ryo. He won't hurt me." Sakura yelled. Ryo hesitated. He didn't want to risk Sakura's safety. 

"He needs me to get under my father's throne." Sakura yelled when she noticed Ryo's hesitation. Ryo face hardened in determination as he threw the amulet at the wall. The amulet hit the wall and burst into tiny shards of glass. Seriyu screamed in rage as he tossed Sakura roughly to the floor. Seriyu then ran and jumped out the living room window. Shards of glass filled the air as Seriyu ran. Ryo rushed to Sakura's side. 

"You all right?" he asked as he gently picked her up. Sakura looked at the broken window and breaking free of Ryo's grip ran after Seriyu.

"Sakura!" Ryo called after her. 

Sakura stopped long enough to explain herself. "I can't let him get away!" she yelled. "This could be my only chance to pay him back for all the things he's done!" Sakura turned and ran in the direction Seriyu had gone. She ran hard, her feet pounding against the ground as she rushed to catch up to him. 

Her face was a mask of determination. She had to make him pay. Sakura drew he sword as she picked up her pace. 

_"You better hope I don't catch up to you Seriyu!' _Sakura thought as she hurried after Seriyu. She eventually saw him in the distance. Being so close to finally being able to extract her revenge Sakura got an added boost of speed allowing her to catch up to the retreating villain. She leapt in the air and came down hard on Seriyu's back, causing him to stumble and fall. The two rolled and landed with Sakura on top, sword raised and inches from his throat. 

"I'm going to make you pay for all the things that you have done!" Sakura hissed as her eyes flashed in anger. 

"You going to kill me?" Seriyu asked even though he knew the answer.

"Got any better ideas?" She replied sarcastically as she raised her sword. Seriyu shut his eye waiting for the feel of cold steel against his flesh. Sakura was about to kill him when she heard her name.

"Sakura!" Ryo yelled. She turned to see Ryo and Anubis running toward her, panting hard. 

"I'm busy!" Sakura said returning to the task at hand.

"No, Sakura! Don't kill him!" Ryo commanded.

"Why in the world not?" Sakura demanded not letting up on her hold of Seriyu. 

"It's not your place to decide whether or not he lives or dies." Ryo answered. Sakura turned her head and glared at Ryo before returning to casting a cold stare at Seriyu, but what Ryo had just said struck a nerve. Sakura hesitated as she stared at Seriyu. Seriyu noticed her hesitation and took advantage of it by pushing her off. He then took off running as fast as his legs could carry him. Sakura shook her head to clear her thoughts and stood up, preparing to chase after him again when she felt Ryo's hand on her arm. 

"Ryo, let me go, he's going to get away!" she said urgently as she attempted to tug her arm away. Ryo's grip remained firm. 

"Sakura, if you kill him, you'll be no better than he is." Ryo said softly. Sakura stopped staring at the direction Seriyu had gone and turned an angry look at Ryo.

"What?!" she demanded angrily. She was this close to finally being able to repay Seriyu back for what he had done to her and now Ryo was trying to get her to spare his life. 

"We broke the amulet, he can't fool us again." Ryo answered. "Just let it go, Sakura." Sakura closed her eyes, fighting with herself. Ryo took her in his arms and held her close. Sakura leaned her head against him as she started to cry. 


	21. chapter twenty one

Ryo walked through the forest, searching for Sakura. Ever since he had talked her into sparing Seriyu's life a few days ago, she spent most of her time alone by the river. She even turned Kero's company away. But this had gone on far enough, and he needed to get some answers. He had asked the warlords what had happened between Sakura and Seriyu, but out of loyalty to her, they remained as tight lipped as before. He found her sitting on the bank staring dismally at the crystal clear water. She had her legs pulled up and her chin was resting on her knees. She turned and looked at him when she heard him approach, but returned to staring at the water and made no objection as he sat next to her. The two sat in silence before Ryo decided to break the ice. 

"You having second thoughts about our wedding next month?" he asked. Sakura continued to stare at the water as she gave a small smile.

"No," she answered. "Are you?"

"No, I just wanted to know if you were."

"Well, I'm ready for it. Everything is all set." She answered.

"Good." Ryo said with a nod as he let his eyes roam his surroundings. 

"So you got your dress?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"Look, I know you didn't come down here to talk to me about the wedding, Ryo." Sakura said bluntly. "So why don't you just cut it with the small talk and ask me what really want to talk about!" Ryo sighed. He had never been good at keeping things from her. 

"I guess, what I came down here to talk about is this whole Seriyu thing." Sakura stiffened and Ryo continued talking. "Please, stop avoiding the subject, you need to talk about this with me. You have been sitting down here for the past couple of days ever since you let him go…"

"Ever since _you_ made me let him go." Sakura corrected him sharply.

"Fine, either way, all you've done for the past couple of days is mope down here. You won't let anyone near you, you won't even talk to Kero!" Ryo yelled frustrated. 

"What am I supposed to do Ryo?" she demanded angrily as she finally looked at him. "I have waited my entire life to finally be able to repay that jerk back for what he did to me and I let that chance slip through my fingers."

"You did the right thing!" Ryo protested. 

"Not if you knew what he did!" Sakura muttered.

"See! This is what I'm talking about! You won't tell me! You won't tell anyone and Dais, Anubis, Cale and Sekhmet know, but they won't say anything, out of loyalty to you." Ryo yelled at her his frustration growing that she kept hiding this big secret from him.

Sakura turned her head and stared at the water again as Ryo sighed in annoyance. This wasn't going the way he had planned. 

"I don't want to talk about it!" she said sternly.

"Why not?" Ryo said with pleading in his voice. "Whatever happened happened a long time ago. Don't you think that you've held onto this grudge of yours long enough?" 

"You have no idea of what he did." Sakura responded in a low voice. 

"Because you won't tell me!" Ryo finished wearily. He was starting to really get really angry about this. But he quickly cooled down when he saw the lone tear slip down her cheek. Ryo instantly regretted his harsh tone and pulled her close. Sakura leaned her head against his chest and cried silently.

"I'm sorry, don't cry Sakura." He soothed as he stroked the top of her head and kissed her forehead. 

"I'm just not ready yet." She said softly. "I'll tell you one day, I promise I will. Because I know that one day I'm going to have to face this and tell people, but I'm still just not ready to talk about it. I'm sorry; please don't be upset with me." She whispered as she cried on his shoulder. Ryo hugged her tighter. 

"Then I'll wait." He said simply. "Until your ready to tell me." The two sat there for a long time, Ryo holding onto Sakura protectively as she attempted to dry her tears. He had no clue as to what Seriyu had done, but she had promised to tell him when she was ready and that was good enough for him. He would just be patient, and in the mean time, they still had their wedding. Maybe after they were married, she'd be ready. 


	22. chapter twenty two

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*One Month Later*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ryo woke up earlier than normal that morning as he sat up and stared out his window. _'Today's the day!'_ he thought with excitement. _'Today Sakura becomes Mrs. Ryo Sanada.'_ He smiled happily as he lay back down and stared at the ceiling, thinking about all that was going to happen that day. Eventually he managed to drag himself out of bed and get dressed. He kept looking at his tuxedo sitting on a chair at the other end of the room. _'Just a couple more hours.' He said to himself as he left the room, White Blaze trotting behind him. He made it down to the kitchen where Sage, Cale, Dais, Anubis, Rowen, and Kento sat eating breakfast. _

"Well, if it isn't the groom!" Kento said upon his entrance. 

"Ready for today?" Sage asked. 

"I've been ready for a long time!" Ryo said as he helped himself to some breakfast. The guys smiled in understanding as they continued eating. 

"Where are the girls?" Ryo asked curiously referring to Mia and Alanna. He figured that Sakura would still be asleep being the night owl she was. 

"Oh you won't see them till the wedding!" Sage said glumly at not being able to be with Alanna. 

"Why not?" Ryo asked.

"Because they are helping your blushing bride to be get everything ready for the wedding." Dais answered.

"Sakura's up already?" Ryo asked interested.

"She was up at the crack of dawn running around the house like a miniature cyclone getting all the final things in place." Cale replied. 

"Maybe I should go help her." Ryo thought out loud as he turned to go upstairs to the girl's room. 

"I wouldn't if I were you." Anubis warned as Ryo scoffed at his remark and made his way upstairs. HE gave a smile to Kero sitting outside the door as he rapped smartly on the door and listened. He heard a flurry of papers, and objects being moved around as the door opened a crack. 

"Yes?" Sakura's voice floated out. 

"Hey." Ryo said.

"RYO!" Sakura yelled shutting the door almost all the way. "What are you doing!" she demanded. 

Ryo stared at the barely open door stunned. This wasn't the response he had expected from his soon to be wife. "Trying to talk to you." Ryo answered surprised.

"You can't!" Sakura shouted back. "It's back luck to see the bride before the wedding!" Ryo threw back his head in a laugh. 

"You don't really believe that superstitious nonsense do you?"

"You never know!" Sakura shot back from behind the door. 

"Come one, I just want to talk to you for a little bit; then I'll go." Ryo said persuasively.

"But…"

"It's not like I haven't seen you before the wedding. I saw you all yesterday and yesterday was before the wedding." Ryo pointed out. Sakura sighed as she opened the door to allow Ryo entrance. Mia and Alanna looked up as Ryo entered and got up to leave, assuming that the couple wanted their few minutes of privacy. They shut the door behind them leaving Ryo and Sakura alone. Ryo stared at Sakura for a few minutes as she moved around the room. Ever since they had had their talk by the river that day, Sakura started getting that sparkle in her eyes back. The one that she had lost after she had let Seriyu go. Although there was still a hint of sadness in her gaze and Ryo wished that she would talk to him about it, but he had promised not too ask again. _'She promised to tell me when she was ready, and I'll wait.'_ He thought to himself. 

"Where's your dress?" Ryo asked noting the T-shirt and jeans she was wearing. 

"Hidden from nosy boyfriends!" Sakura joked as Ryo smiled. "So what did you want to talk about?" she asked impatiently

"I lied, I just said that so you'd let me in the room." Ryo admitted. 

"RYO! Do you know how busy I am? I still have a lot of things to be done. And I haven't even found my something borrowed yet!" Sakura whined as she sat on the window sill.

"Something borrowed?" Ryo asked looking at her in confusion. 

"Yes, there is a rhyme that every bride is supposed to have a something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." Sakura recited. Ryo nodded in understanding. 

"What's your something old?" he questioned. 

"My mother's necklace." She answered quietly fingering the small crystal that she continuously wore.

"And you're something new?"

"The dress."

"Something blue?" Ryo persisted. Sakura looked up at him at before she answered this question with a sly glint showing from her golden eyes. 

"I'll tell you that _after_ the wedding." Ryo knitted his brows together in confusion before shrugging it off. 

"So who is the maid of honor?" 

"Mia, who's the best man?" Sakura replied.

"Sage," Ryo answered. 

"Whose is going to walk you down the aisle?" Ryo asked.

Sakura looked out the window sadly for a moment before answering. "Well, since my father can't, I asked Anubis. He said he would be honored." 

"Good choice." Ryo praised as he walked over and seated himself next to her. He reached out and covered her hand with his as she looked up at him. 

"I love you, Sakura." He said.

 "I love you, Ryo." She responded as she covered his mouth with hers. All too soon Sakura broke the kiss and attempted to usher Ryo out the door. 

"I'll see you in a couple of hours." She promised at his objection to having to leave. Ryo stared at the closed door listening to the sound of the three girls preparing for the wedding. He shook his head as he smiled and headed to his room to change. He might as well get started. 


	23. chapter twenty three

Ryo waited impatiently at the front of the church as the opening strains of the wedding march were played. The huge double doors at the end of the church opened to reveal Sakura in her wedding dress, being escorted down the aisle by Anubis. Sakura's wedding dress looked almost identical to the one she wore when she and Ryo formed the armor of the Inferno. Thinking of that made him reminisce of everything that they had gone through together. He thought back to the time when he first saw her. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He had stood behind the waterfall patiently waiting for this stranger who had been following him and White Blaze. He saw a figure jump to one of the middle rocks reaching out from the cold water of the river while the ten year old Ryo prepared his sword to attack. He leapt out from behind the water fall and pointed his sword tip at the girl that had been following him. Ryo stared entranced by the girl, for some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Her cyan hair blowing gently in the breeze as his blue eyes met golden ones. He lowered his sword slowly as he took a tentative step toward her. The girl broke out of her reverie and ran. Ryo was left staring after her as she disappeared. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*End Flashback*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ryo broke out of his daydream as Sakura neared him. She smiled at him and Ryo thought she had never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment. Sakura left Anubis' side as Ryo extended his hand out to her to walk with her toward the minister. 

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God to witness the union of these two in holy matrimony. If any here have any reason why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." There was a silence as the minister continued. 

"Who gives this woman to this man?" He asked. 

Anubis stood up proudly. "Her friends and I do." Anubis said speaking for all the warlords, who had been the closest thing to family that Sakura had after her father had been banished once again to the spirit realm. Sakura smiled as the minister continued on with the ceremony. Sakura stared happily at Ryo as memories flashed through her mind. She remembered when Aria had taken control of her mind and forced her to fight against Ryo. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Flashback*~*~*~*~*~

"Attack!" Aria had commanded her as Sakura leapt at Ryo. She fought him to the best of her abilities as Ryo matched her blow for blow. Then he had said her name. Hearing her name from him caused her to think. 

"Sakura, it's me Ryo!" he had said. Hearing his name caused a fleeting glimpse of a memory to run through her head. A memory of remembrance which caused her to falter, but she quickly pushed it aside as she continued to do what she was commanded to do. It was then Ryo got an idea as he managed to knock her sword away. He leaned in and used Sakura's own trick against her as he kissed her. Sakura's head exploded with memories of Ryo and all they had gone through. It was because of Ryo that she was able to break the spell Aria had on her. It was because of Ryo that she had gone against everything she had been brought up to believe was true and turn against it. In the end it all came down to him and his love for her. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*End Flashback*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura was brought back from her memories as she felt Ryo squeeze her hand. 

"Do you, Ryo, take Sakura, to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, as long as you both shall live?"

The minister asked looking at Ryo. 

"I do." Ryo vowed as he slipped the golden band on Sakura's finger. 

"Do you, Sakura, take Ryo, to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, as long as you both shall live?" He repeated again, this time addressing Sakura. 

"I do." Sakura promised as she slipped an identical band on Ryo's finger. 

" By the power  vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife; you may now kiss the bride." The minister proclaimed as Ryo drew Sakura to him and kissed her tenderly. The chapel erupted in cheers as their friends applauded. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Later that night, Ryo and Sakura entered the house alone. The others, along with a disappointed White Blaze and Kero, had volunteered to spend the weekend at a hotel in the city, so the two newly weds had the house to themselves. Ryo closed the front door behind Sakura as he turned to her. 

"I love you Sakura Sanada." He said drawing her close. 

"I love you,  my Wildfire." Sakura responded as she leaned in. Ryo leaned back and looked at her. 

"So now that we're married, I have only one question to ask you." He said as Sakura looked at him curiously.

"What was your something blue?" 

Sakura smiled slyly as she brought Ryo's head close and whispered something in his ear. Ryo's lips spread into a wide grin as he scooped her up bridal style and carried her upstairs to his room. He used to shoulder to open the door as he walked in and shut it firmly with his foot, all the while kissing Sakura squarely on the lips.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Author's note-  I hope you all enjoyed this story and I must say that I personally loved writing this chapter and I hope you have all enjoyed reading about the wedding between Ryo and Sakura finally taking place. Now I know that I never did say what exactly happened between Sakura and Seriyu and there is a good reason for that. It's because when I finally did think of a reason, it gave me the idea for a whole new story. I'm currently writing it as we speak. And I promise that I will tell why she hates him so much and what that mysterious thing object under Talpa's throne is in that story. I think that the title is going to be Memories of the Past, but more likely than not I'll change it. So anyway, please tell me what you guys thought of this story and give me your comments. I love hearing what you guys think.


End file.
